An Essay on House Prejudice at Hogwarts
by D.L. SchizoAuthoress
Summary: Draco's homework for his History of Magic class has a decidedly pro-Slytherin slant to it...but he does have a few valid points.


History of Magic--Professor Binns  
Draco Athanasius Malfoy  
  
"An Essay on House Prejudice at Hogwarts"  
  
Very little is known about the actual Founding of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and what has survived the ages is fragmented and tampered with. Evidence of a fifth Founder--or at least of some magical being who assisted in the Founding--has been found in manuscripts dating back near anno Domini 1000. Reasons for the removal of this fifth personage from the supposed definitive handbook on the school, "Hogwarts: A History," have been speculated as violation of a social taboo or connections with the Darkness.   
  
Therefore, one can only conclude that if this truth has been obscured from the general population of the school, that other truths--truths that are undesirable for the students to know--have also been kept from us. History, despite its being a required course for graduation, can not be taught. It must be experienced, because being told of historic events is to see them through the smoke and mirrors of deception that historians can set up to evoke sympathy in one cause or the next.   
  
The inter-House rivalries are quite well known, especially that of Gryffindor House and Slytherin House. In fact, it may even appear that Slytherin House has rivalries with every other House in Hogwarts, and to a degree, this is true. During Gryffindor-Slytherin Quidditch matches, the vast majority of Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff students rally behind the red and gold.   
  
Perhaps this is unsurprising to the reader, seeing as the Founders themselves appear to have set the standard for conduct in each House. The legend of the Chamber of Secrets tells of a split among the Founders--Slytherin distancing himself from the others. However, it may very well be revealed that it is the rivalry between Slytherin and the other Houses that spawned the idea of Salazar breaking away from all the other Founders. In the History section of the Hogwarts Library, there is a collection of Runic writings; one of these is a single surviving entry from the diary of one of Helga Hufflepuff's many followers. Translated, it reads:  
  
"The lady Hufflepuff has past the age of marrying, preferring instead the path of the warrior. But she is often seen with the warlord Slytherin, they discussing many matters, but most especially that of school that they wish to stand in the place of Castle Darkwood. The warlord Gryffindor and lady Ravenclaw share this hope. For now, it is all I wish that we live beyond the coming battles with Scyld Grendel, may Woden curse his name forever and Hel receive his black soul in Nifflheim."  
  
Castle Darkwood may be the Castle Hogwarts, or the school may have been built upon the old foundations. But it is clear that the Founders were once united in a cause: to fight this Scyld Grendel, possibly a Dark Lord of their age, but at least a rival wizard. But the importance of this passage in the context of House prejudice is that it provides some evidence toward the idea that Slytherin's serious argument with Gryffindor was ONLY with Godric Gryffindor.   
  
Since Hufflepuff was "often seen with...Slytherin" and talked with him of many things--note the word "talked" instead of a more hostile term like 'quarreled' or 'argued'--one may deduce that these two became friends. While Hufflepuff may not have agreed with Slytherin's pure-blood-only beliefs, because they conversed so often, these beliefs must have come up at some point previous to Slytherin's declaration that he would accept only pure-bloods. Since there is no documentation of Hufflepuff and Slytherin ever falling out of favor with each other, Hufflepuff may have actually sided with him once he expressed the desire to excluded Muggle-borns  
  
If one looks at the time and the atmosphere that Hogwarts School was established, numerous anti-magic campaigns and Muggle-led witch-hunts abound. There was little reason to trust people who had been raised by Muggles; in a way, it was like pulling someone from the other side into the ranks of your own in a battle. It was logical that the children of Muggles, even if these children exhibited magical tendencies and powers, were to be treated with a bit more caution than those born and bred into the wizarding ways.   
  
In return for the discrimination against Muggle-borns in the House of Salazar, the students of Slytherin House face more subtle exclusions. We are often viewed with dislike, mistrust, and downright hate. "There's not a single witch or wizard who went bad who wasn't in Slytherin," is common currency in the halls. As if being in Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, or Gryffindor somehow elevates the student to some kind of demi-god or -goddess, without human weakness to give in to evil! There are many witches and wizards who attended Hogwarts, in Slytherin House, who are just as good as any other graduate. The reader is invited to study the annuals in the Library for further proof.   
  
Slytherin students are even downplayed in the Sorting Songs. For my first year, Gryffindors were described as those "brave at heart," with "daring, nerve, and chivalry." Hufflepuffs were "just and loyal...patient...true, and unafraid of toil." Ravenclaw was called "wise," calling those with "ready mind" and "of wit and learning." Slytherins were simply the "cunning folk" who "use any means" to get what they want, which suggests an unscrupulous lack of morals.   
  
The Sorting Song of this year is in ways better and worse. "Bold Gryffindor, from wild moor," is as positive in connotation as "Shrewd Slytherin, from fen." (In fact, a fen and a moor are similar pieces of land. But while a moor is often high but swampy, a fen is low and marshy. Interestingly, Ravenclaw's glen is a valley, just like Hufflepuff's "valley broad.") But in the naming of the virtues valued in each House, three of the Houses are given no adjective. But the final one is "power-hungry Slytherin." Is there another term more negative than power-hungry that does not cross into phrases like 'depraved,' 'despicable,' or 'cruel'?   
  
Professors at Hogwarts are not above these prejudices either. It may be said, and rightly so, that the Head of Slytherin favors his House's pupils. However, it has been proved numerous times that such favoritism is necessary to counteract the tendency of the rest of the staff to view Slytherins with disfavor. Ambition does not always equal the greatest of intelligence, nor does cunning signify academic prowess. Points are frequently deducted for infractions such as "Incorrect answer to the question," "Inattentiveness," and "Refusal to comply with teacher's request." These usually come from the student not being able to understand the material as the professor teaches it. And other minor point losses follow these basic ones as the teacher searches for reasons that the student fails--EXCLUDING the possibility that the method of teaching may be inadequate.   
  
In conclusion, there is a circle of prejudice that everyone at Hogwarts indulges in. Slytherin students on the whole hate Muggle-borns ('Mudbloods'), and the rest of the school discriminates against Slytherin, which only alienates the students further from each other. 


End file.
